Four teen girls have received successfully-transplanted laboratory-grown vaginal organs, scientists reported on Thursday.
The girls, who were between the ages of 13 and 18, underwent the vaginal organ implant surgery between 2005 and 2008. All of them had Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a rare genetic condition in which the vagina and uterus are either underdeveloped or absent. After several follow-ups, the organs are functioning normally, and the girls experienced regular sexual desire.
The vaginal organs were engineered with muscle and epithelial cells from biopsies of the women’s genitals. The cells were extracted from the tissues, grown, and placed into a biodegradable material that is later formed into the shape of a vagina for each patient. When the vagina is placed into the patients’ bodies, the nerves and blood vessels help expand it into tissue. The biodegradable material is absorbed into the body, and cells form a new structure and organ.
Reconstructive surgery can lead to complications as much as 75 percent of the time in young patients, the researchers report.
“In addition, this study is one more example of how regenerative medicine strategies can be applied to a variety of tissues and organs,” said study author Anthony Atala, M.D., the director of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine in a statement.
Pretty amazing, ain’t it?
[Source]
